“Growth at all cost” is becoming the norm among all Western politicians. Only growth will keep them in power and banks profitable. They pay lip service to public health and wellbeing while being quite willing to send future generations down the gurgler

Earth is vastly overpopulated by humans. What could not be more clear? Yet, Western policy makers keep bringing in young immigrants and promote higher birth rates. The latest panic is in Germany where birth rate has dropped lower than Japan’s. There will not be enough young productive tax payers to support the elderly

Sorry guys, I am a not a demographic statistician, but is this sustainable? How many more young people will be required to support that latest imports when they age? Durrr

Meantime, I and many other people over 60, are struggling to find work

Another panic is that a number of countries have moved into deflation. Gee shucks the workers who's salaries have not kept pace with inflation may be able to buy food cheaper than last month

Where is a economic model that addresses prosperity without growth or ANY enlightened economist who considers it important?

Dumb ignorance has always irritated me, especially when it comes from people who claim to know what is best for us

I have got to say that if Earth is to sustain humans it needs to give us a whack of reality. Nature is not compassionate. Sooner or later it will do its job because we won’t. We are a disgrace to the universe

That’s my bitch of the week

m

Last edited by Michaeljc on Sun May 31, 2015 4:00 am, edited 1 time in total.

Michael, Lao Tzu writes in fascicle 5 or 6 of THETAOTECHING that "Nature treats Humanity like straw dogs". I think that's right, what he says. Anyway, in the fine little skinny Witter Bynner translation, we have those very words. Old Lao's (redundant!) had many translators, to date (with the profusion likely to increase, not abate).

--Joe

laotzu.jpg

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Last edited by desert_woodworker on Sun May 31, 2015 4:27 am, edited 2 times in total.

"The abundance of Nature is not a matter of its 'providing' ". -- William James, c. 1901.

Never a truer word! The only hope we have, economically speaking, is to limit the population of each country to the numbers it’s natural resources can sustain. However, what do we do with the surplus people? Shoot them? China tried a policy of allowing each family one child. (Are they still doing that?)The barbaric hoards of Isis are doing an effective job in the Middle East. People fleeing from them are loaded into inflatables and launched into the Mediterranean where many of them drown. Such a solution is, to say the least, not ideal! And those who survive the trip are straining the economies of the countries who take them in.It’s going to take some hard headed, long term political decisions to get us out of this mess.Pigs might fly!It’s a well known fact that capitalist economies that rely on growth are doomed to periods of boom and bust. We are trying to recover from the latest bust at the moment. Frankly, I can’t see any light at the end of this particular tunnel.A future nuclear war might solve the problem for us! Let’s look on the bright side; you should be al-right in New Zealand!Colin

well, looks like we're in for story weather, as the song goes. We might take a closer look and see that capitalism is not quite the case... we're moving toward a fascist, corporate controlled politic. dunno, it's quite possible that the 1% of the 1% have draconian measures in mind. Meanwhile, I have my eye on next month's rent and the lovely blue hydrangeas.

whatever it is, it's heartbreaking that we have robbed future generations.

If people were to spread out rather than huddle in masses the world wouldn't seem over populated- And there's plenty in the world for each and every person- There just isn't the inclination to distribute it-